Hi New hear and would appreciate some advice - My daughter has an old R reg fiat punto with an automatic box - It squeals and is very stiff to put into drive. From looking at posts on here and the net it would seem that the problem is with the powder clutch (I have also checked the brushes and the accelerator sensor switch which are fine). I understand that it is possible to replace the Magnetic particles which have apparently become magnetised causing the fault?

There is a firm in the midlands which will sell the "powder" in a specific pre measured amount for replacement they don't do the work but said that people have removed the unit (I guess that this is the torque converter?) dried it out, removed the particles and replaced with the new ones which apparently works 9 out of 10 times.

My mechanic is willing to try this procedure but before he starts any information I can give him would help - Taking the gearbox out isnt a problem - Just what to do when its out!!

Any body please let me know are the particles in the converter or a unit attached to it and how to remove them (Hoover?)-Downloaded the Haynes manual but it doesn't cover the magnetic particles many thanks Rg alec

you could do all that then find the gearbox is broke, most people just scrap these now as they are not worth the hassle and expense, powder the clutch that is in the place where a normal clutch would go on the fly wheel, you unbolt it before removing the box though from the rear and remove it with the box

Many thanks for the advice and prompt reply - Kind of in a catch 22 - My daughter needs a car for work but she only passed her test on an auto and they are all lots of money. Think that we will give the powder treatment a go - Do we just shake the old powder out? sorry to ask what may seem daft questions but at £62.00 for a powder refill and only labour for the box it could be running again for a little over £200 or alternativily i could buy 200 lottery tickets!! lol

tx

alec

I think Dave is saying the gearbox has to come off to do the job (but I'm no expert). The issue is that all that screeching shows the metal surfaces have been damaged so new powder might not help much.

One of these is another option the Duologic is a great system sadly never fitted to Punto Mk2. But budget £2,500 or more.

Duologic great dont hear that very often.

i'd buy the lottery tickets given the choice

My mother couldn't manage a normal box so got herself a Panda with mini selespeed / duologic. I assumed it would be fairly rubbish in such a low cost car and was pleasantly surprised.
The issues that I found were:
VERY slow reversing on the level can be a bit stop/go but always safe.
Slow to react (auto-downshift) when you need to grab a space in traffic
Slow to react when you are caught napping in neutral and need to move NOW
Annoying bing bing every time you do something it dislikes (so disconnect the binger)
I love the racing changes it does at higher revs and its always been a smooth economical drive. The semi auto shift is good but easy to forget & you wonder why its not changing up D'Oh. Its more economical in auto than in manual shift.

When I've used it I quickly adapted to drive around its quirks of which there are very few. I've no idea what the reliability is like but mum's is 3+ years old and doing fine.

If they are generally disliked they should sell cheap and the OP could get a bargain.

i prefer the speedgear

I would too but wasnt the one buying. But pleasantly surprised with what she got.

Isnt the Speedgear the one with infinitely variable gear ratios?

Speedgear is ecvt